About us

We conduct applied health research, support the translation of research evidence into practice, and provide training to increase access to equitable, appropriate, and sustainable health and care across the West. We focus on research projects that improve the management of chronic health conditions and interventions to improve public population health.

What is NIHR CLAHRC West?

The National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West (NIHR CLAHRC West) works with partner organisations to conduct applied health research and implement research evidence, to improve health and healthcare across the West.

We undertake applied health research projects, in collaboration with partners across our region and nationally. The research we do must have a real world application and fall into one of our broad thematic areas of ‘improving the management of chronic health conditions’ and ‘public health interventions and population health’.

Our ethos is to focus on research and implementation that is:

equitable and fair

appropriate: providing optimum advice or care, at the right time and place for prevention or care

sustainable: taking account of resource-use and future continuation

CLAHRC West brings together universities, local authorities, NHS hospital trusts, clinical commissioning groups, patients and members of the public, and third sector organisations to focus on research to improve health and healthcare for local people.

What is a CLAHRC?

NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care bring together a collaboration of the local providers of NHS services and NHS commissioners, universities, patients and members of the public, the local academic health science network and other relevant local organisations.

CLAHRCs conduct applied health research across the NHS, and translate research findings into improved outcomes for patients. The 13 NIHR CLAHRCs primarily focus on research targeted at chronic disease and public health interventions.

The aims of the NIHR CLAHRCs are to:

Develop and conduct applied health research relevant across the NHS, and to translate research findings into improved outcomes for patients

Create a distributed model for the conduct and application of applied health research that links those who conduct applied health research with all those who use it in practice across the health community

Create and embed approaches to research and its dissemination that are specifically designed to take account of the way that health care is delivered across the local AHSN

Increase the country’s capacity to conduct high quality applied health research focused on the needs of patients, and particularly research targeted at chronic disease and public health interventions

Improve patient outcomes locally and across the wider NHS

Contribute to the country’s growth by working with the life sciences industry.

Map showing the areas covered by CLAHRC West

What geographical area does CLAHRC West cover?

Who’s involved?

CLAHRC West is hosted by University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, and the partnership includes local providers of NHS services and NHS commissioners, universities, local authorities and third sector and patient / user organisations, and the West of England Academic Health Science Network (WEAHSN). Find out more about our partners.

Our green ethos

We are actively working to minimise the impact our team has on the environment. The NIHR CLAHRC West green team was set up in December 2014 and registered with Green Impact, a national programme operating in a number of universities and NHS trusts. We achieved the bronze Green Impact award in May 2015. We are committed to recycling, energy saving and reducing waste, and continually working to make improvements in these areas, alongside the Green Impact programme, part of the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust Big Green Scheme.

Want to know more about CLAHRC West?

Watch this video, which explains a bit more about what we do and who our partners are.